Derek Holland tries to pitch the Rangers to their second straight AL pennant.

The Tigers managed to stave off elimination Thursday thanks to a 133-pitch effort from Justin Verlander, two clutch homers from an injured Delmon Young and a five-out save from lefty specialist Phil Coke. Can they do it again tonight in another elimination game, this time in Texas?

One bright spot for Detroit manager Jim Leyland: His entire bullpen is fresh, so that means Joaquin Benoit and Jose Valverde are available. But he'll still need a strong performance from right-hander Max Scherzer, not to mention some more clutch hits from his banged-up lineup.

The Rangers, meanwhile, have to still feel good about their chances, needing to win only one of two in their home ballpark. They'd love to wrap this up tonight, though, with lefty Derek Holland on the mound, and get three full days off before the start of the World Series…

For what it's worth, there's a link over on mlbtraderumors.com reporting that C. J. Wilson is looking to sign a $100 million contract and the Rangers aren't about to give it to him. And that's almost certainly the correct move for them (and one I hope the Nats avoid, as well).But the more I watch the Rangers in the post-season and the more I've read about them recently (e.g., this week's Sports Illustrated print edition), now that they've got a smart ownership team they could prove a perennial powerhouse. They've got a good mix of mid-career veterans and younger players, plus they've recently signed a multi-year cable TV deal that will give them a lot of flexibility (and that dwarfs anything the Nats could currently imagine). At this point in the playoffs, I'm now expecting them to take the World Series in five or six games (as much as I'd prefer the Cards or even the Brewers, since I'm a NL fan). All that said, go Tigers!

Me three! Go Tigers!In other news, I liked the Boswell piece on Jerry Hairston Jr., today. It was about a bigger idea than just Jerry Jr — he was the poster child for the idea. And, to repeat, Go Tigers!

Now we go to a situation where the Rangers have to change their lineup and have their pitcher hit and maybe run the bases. I am a huge NL fan and hate the dl but it really has to hurt the AL more then the NL. I mean how hard is it to put a dh in the lineup and not worry about double switches, what to do with your #8 guy, etc. Really wish both leagues would play by the same rules.

I was pulling mildly for the Tigers, but okay. Man, that third inning was out of this world. And if Michael Young is actually gonna start hitting, that will make a huge difference for the Rangers going forward. They got a lot done with a black hole batting 4th.

Ouch. Went to bed after the 7th ended, at 15-4. Kinda surprised not to see more than 15 TX runs in the boxscore this a.m. Heck, they scored twice that many off that team up the road from us. (O no, I didn't. O yes, I did. ;-)) Sorry to see the Tigers out of it but with the injuries they had it's something to have forced a game 6. And agree with Jane on the Bos piece.

Just another series with pathetic starting pitching. The best pitcher in the Majors, Justin Verlander, gave up 12 ER in 20.1 innings. My theory on Verlander is that his 251 innings from the regular season caught up with him as I saw in his last start in the regular season that he seemed to start to over throw. Probably not great that your ace was fatigued if that was the case. I know the Tigers and Verlander never said it, just my theory on why he got hit so hard starting with his last start of the regular season.Keeping on the Tigers theme, I remember when Tigers pitcher Mickey Lolich pitched in 1972 a total of 327 innings with a 2.50 ERA and then went into the post-season and pitched another 19 innings with a 1.42 ERA. Lolich actually went 4 straight years pitching over 300 innings and 1 season went 376 innings which is more than twice what the Nats want to hold Strasburg to in 2012.Clearly, there were pitchers 40 years ago who pitched much more and their arms didn't fall off. It has to be working up your body to that type of work load. Verlander's 251 innings was the tops of his career and in the Majors this year. The same was the case for many of the other pitchers. It wasn't the case with Greinke as his season starter later due to his pre-season injury. Chris Carpenter (STL) pitched 237.1 innings and Roy Halladay (PHI) 233.2.Halladay had the best post-season as an Ace with 4 ER in 16 innings.CJ Wilson has 14 ER in 15.2 innings and pitched a career high 223.1 innings which was a career high for him in 2011.Greinke pitched a 4 year low in innings this year with 171.2 and a 3.83 ERA and his line in the post-season is 12 ER in 16.2 innings for a 6.48 ERA

From the VWL, our favorite 2nd string catcher Flo is leading the league in HRs, BA, and OBS. Haven't seen any stats for Ramos, although he is listed on VWL roster. Hope he doesn't catch too much, if at all. Maybe just DH, to keep his stroke warmed up.

Natslifer – I think there is some kind of blackout rule that you can't make major announcements during playoffs – oh, well, I guess Boston did, but – I still think you are supposed to wait. Maybe one of the coaches from a contending team has an interview lined up with us. Leyland? Wanna come to DC? Seriously, though, maybe one of their coaching staff wants to interview with the Nats! Perhaps we will hear between the league series and the world series.I heard an announcer say the other day that some annoucement should come the day after the world series ends.

That game last night got very ugly very fast. I hope today's game is a little more exciting. I am torn between the Brewers and the Cards – hate to see Nyger get in the ws, but don't like LaRussa. Cards seem to be very hot right now. I find their story to be the most unlikely considering how far back they were at the beginning of September.

Also can't recall whether the blackout applies for the World Series only or for the division/championship series as well. There have been some staff/FO announcements of late, including those relating to the Cubs and Mets. Seriously, it's not like a Nats announcement would upstage the Serious anyway because who cares (at least, on the national stage) other than fans like us?Relating to Doc's posting, I'd be interested in seeing a roundup of which Nats are playing where in the Winter Leagues, if anyone knows of a quick and dirty reference. I've seen such info on the AFL but not for other offseason leagues. I poked around a bit on the MLB Winter Leagues page the other day but would have had to read the roster for every team in every league and didn't feel like investing the time (yeah, I'm just that lazy). Would also be interested in tracking ex-Nats in those leagues (for instance, I believe that Meat Hook's team also features the oft-injured Alex Escobar, and Lastings Milledge is playing on another team).

@ Natsfan1a:Last winter there was an updated status summary of Nats in all post-season leagues. I haven't found it yet. Hope it appears at some point. I'll post its' existence if I find it.I'm like you, I am only interested in Nats stat summaries. Its a big waste of time to go through all leagues and all teams. You're correct about Millege, he's stringing it out down in the VWL.Gooooooooooooooooo Nats!!!!!

Thanks, Doc. I found a really nice one that a blogger had compiled for the Giants, but nothing for the Nats. Speaking of the Giants, I noticed that Kung Fu Panda Pablo Sandoval is a winter ball teammate of Flores. (I follow the Giants to an extent because my brother rooted for them.)